London Bar Raided for Serving Whale-Infused Whiskey

No offense, London bars, but your mixology innovations are really killing us. First the liquid nitrogen cocktail that forced one girl's stomach to be removed; now, the whale-skin-infused whiskey that's seriously grossing everyone out — and is also completely illegal.

Eater first reported on London's cocktail bar Nightjar and its little slipup. After serving a cocktail made with whale-skin-infused whiskey (called the Moby Dick, unsurprisingly), Nightjar was raided by the police for the product. Under EU law, any sort of hunting or trading of whales is illegal. In a statement from Nightjar, the bar owners contended that the product was brought back by an employee from a visit to Japan. The whiskey contained a "single dried piece of whale skin (around 2 x 5 cm)... This small piece of skin stayed in a single bottle which was topped up with whisky over the course of the year, and used to flavor the drink." (What can that possibly taste like?!)

Nightjar said it's fully cooperating with the police in its investigation, and has since removed the Moby Dick cocktail from the menu. In its apology statement, Nightjar said, "We genuinely feel ashamed about our lack of due diligence around this and our insensitivity to public opinion, and have taken the decision to donate all proceeds from the sale of this cocktail to a whale conservation charity." Well, as long as it doesn't spur on blowfish-infused sake, or something.